Photos: Israel and the next Silicon Valley

Israel wants to create its Silicon Valley in the Negev

My in-depth feature on Israel's quest to create its own Silicon Valley included images of Jerusalem, Ben Gurion University, and the southern Negev desert where Israel is staking its future economic hopes. I have a lot more photos than the ones in the article so I've gathered the best ones into this gallery.

Welcome to Israel, at the Tel Aviv airport

From the moment you arrive in Israel you start seeing young people on their smartphones, like this guy in the Tel Aviv airport. That's fitting since elements of the first cellphones were created by Motorola's R&D lab in Israel.

The walls of Jerusalem

The walls of the Old City of Jerusalem have seen so much history and destruction and triumph that it is remarkable to consider everything that has happened here and all the people who have shared in that history.

Interesting nook in the Arab quarter

This was one of many interesting little nooks beside or behind the shops in the Old City. This one in particular was in the Arab quarter. It looks like it's someone's residence or office behind their shop.

Intel in Israel

The pioneering Intel researchers in Israel designed the 8088 processor in the first PC, the Pentium processor that helped popularize PCs, the Centrino process that helped launch laptops, and the multicore processors that have fueled Intel's growth in recent years. The building above is Intel's LEED certified research center in Haifa, one of several Intel research centers in Israel. Other tech giants including Cisco, Microsoft, Google, Apple, IBM, Oracle, SAP, EMC, Motorola, HP, Facebook, and eBay also operate research centers in Israel.

BGU's experimental autonomous jeep

BGU's award-winning Automated Guided Vehicle System (AGVS) is completely self-contained and automated with technology that goes beyond Google's famous driverless cars. In fact, the Israeli government has already taken the concept and used it to build 8-10 of these vehicles with high-end cameras. They are being used to help patrol the country's borders.

Building #1 of the Advanced Technology Park

BGU's proudest new creation (and the central subject of our special report) is the Advanced Technology Park, which is going to connect academia, the technology industry, and the Israeli Defense Forces into a symbiotic ecosystem to enhance the future of cybersecurity. This photo is of Building #1, which opened on September 3.

The ATP under construction

Here's a photo of the ATP under construction. Notice the high-speed train station that runs right between the campus and the ATP and can whisk students, faculty, and IDF members to other parts of Israel.

Solar energy research in the Negev

One of the things that BGU is already known for is its research on solar energy. Here, Dr. David Faiman explains some of that research to journalists. The solar dish on the left was once the largest solar panel in the world.

A slice of green in the Negev

Due to a mixture of high-tech and low-tech advances, the Israelis have turned the Negev into the only desert in the world that is currently receding. They are sharing this knowledge with other countries that are concerned about desertification.

Israel wants to create its Silicon Valley in the Negev

My in-depth feature on Israel's quest to create its own Silicon Valley included images of Jerusalem, Ben Gurion University, and the southern Negev desert where Israel is staking its future economic hopes. I have a lot more photos than the ones in the article so I've gathered the best ones into this gallery.